British Naval Supremacy and Anglo-American Antagonisms, 1914–1930 During World War I, British naval supremacy enabled Great Britain to impose economic blockades and interdiction of American neutral shipping. The United States responded by starting to build “a navy second to none,” one so powerful that Great Britain could not again successfully challenge America’s vital economic interests. This book reveals that when the United States offered to substitute naval equality for its emerging naval supremacy, the British, nonetheless, used the resulting two major international arms-control conferences of the 1920s to ensure its continued naval dominance. donald j. lisio is the Henrietta Arnold Professor Emeritus of His- tory at Coe College. His previous publications include The President and Protest: Hoover, Conspiracy, and the Bonus Riot (1974) and Hoover, Blacks, and Lily Whites: a Study of Southern Strategies (1994). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Professor Lisio now lives in San Diego, California. British Naval Supremacy and Anglo-American Antagonisms, 1914–1930 DONALD J. LISIO 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107056954 © Donald J. Lisio 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc. A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lisio, Donald J. British naval supremacy and Anglo-American antagonisms, 1914–1930 / Donald J. Lisio (Coe College, Des Moines, Iowa). pages cm isbn 978-1-107-05695-4 (Hardback) 1. Great Britain. Royal Navy–History–20th century. 2. United States. Navy–History–20th century. 3. Sea-power–Great Britain–History–20th century. 4. Sea-power–United States– History–20th century. 5. Great Britain–Foreign relations–United States. 6. United States– Foreign relations–Great Britain. 7. Great Britain–History, Naval–20th century. 8. United States–History, Naval–20th century. I. Title. va454.l67 2014 3590.03094109042–dc23 2014023816 isbn 978-1-107-05695-4 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents List of illustrations page vii Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1 Clashing World Interests 5 2 Washington Conference Legacy 16 3 Beatty’s Japanese War Plan 36 4 Churchill’s Challenge 62 5 Beatty Embraces Arms Control 94 6 The General Board’s New Hope 108 7 American Arms-Control Politics 121 8 Beatty Takes Control 138 9 Combat Equivalency 155 10 Beatty’s New Strategies 172 11 Conference Shocks 216 12 Hardening Positions 238 13 The Failure of the Anglo-Japanese Accord 251 14 Cabinet Crisis 269 v vi Contents 15 Final Efforts 279 16 Breakdown and Recriminations 289 17 Conclusion 302 Bibliographical Essay 317 Index 323 Illustrations 1 HMS Kent – Note the eight 8-inch guns in four turrets. page 203 2 USS Pensacola – Note the ten 8-inch guns in four turrets and the ability to launch fire-control spotter aircraft. “USS Pensacola (CA-24) Underway at sea, September 1935.” 204 3 Back Seat: President Woodrow Wilson; President-Elect Warren G. Harding; Front Seat: Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon; Senator Philander Knox. “Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Philander Knox, and Joseph Cannon, in convertible, March 4, 1921.” 205 4 Frank B. Kellogg, Ambassador to Great Britain shortly before his appointment as Secretary of State; Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. “Frank B. Kellogg and Sec. Hughes, 2/27/25.” 206 5 Admiral Sir David Beatty, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Admiralty Naval Staff. “Adm. Sir David Beatty.” 207 6 Winston S. Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer. “Winston Churchill, 10/18/29.” 207 7 Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston S. Churchill. “[Standing, left to right: Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, and Sir Winston Churchill] / Photo Central News from Underwood & Underwood.” 208 8 William Clive Bridgeman, First Lord of the Admiralty. “William Clive Bridgeman, 1st Viscount Bridgeman of Leigh.” 209 9 Viscount Robert Gascoyne-Cecil of Chelwood. Cecil served with Bridgeman as one of the two chief British negotiators at the Geneva Naval Conference of 1927. A third prominent member of the negotiating team, Vice Admiral Frederick Field, vii viii List of illustrations is not pictured. “Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1864–1958.” 210 10 President Calvin Coolidge; Secretary of Commerce Herbert C. Hoover. 211 11 Ambassador to Belgium Hugh Gibson; Ambassador to Great Britain Alanson B. Houghton. Gibson shared duties with Admiral Hilary P. Jones as the American negotiators at the Geneva Naval Conference of 1927. “Hugh Gibson & A.B. Houghton.” 212 12 Admiral Hilary P. Jones. Jones was also chief of the American naval delegates at the Geneva Naval Conference of 1927. “Vice Adml. Hilary P. Jones, 6/23/21.” 213 13 Rear Admiral Frank H. Schofield. Photo taken in 1917 when he was a captain. 214 14 Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and President Herbert C. Hoover. “Macdonald & Hoover, 10/5/29.” 215 Acknowledgments I have been blessed over the years by help from many institutions and individuals and I am happy to acknowledge the importance of their contribu- tions. Generous fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and from the United States Institute of Peace, combined with the annual research stipend from the Henrietta Arnold Chair in History at Coe College, provided crucial financial support. Betty Rogers, the Head of Reference, was especially helpful in fulfilling numerous interlibrary loan requests, while all of the deans and presidents and my faculty friends during my many years at Coe have consistently been encouraging. My special thanks as well to Trustee Ed Walsh and his wife Bobbi for their support and for their establishment of the generous Donald J. Lisio Scholarship Fund for needy students. Archivists and manuscript librarians are too numerous to mention by name, yet all historians are deeply indebted to them. I want especially to thank the professionals in Great Britain at the Public Record Office, the Churchill College Archives, the British Library, the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society, the Cambridge University Library, the National Maritime Museum, and the Birmingham University Library. Most important in the United States are those at the National Archives, the Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, the Naval Historical Center, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, the Hoover Institution, and the Naval War College. I am grateful as well to Lewis Bateman at Cambridge University Press for his faith in the value of my manuscript and for his support of my second book when he was editor at the University of North Carolina Press. Shaun Vigil and the entire staff at Cambridge University Press have been most cordial and supportive and I owe them all a special thanks. Others who have been helpful in the long years to publication include my good friends the late Violet and Ernest Swanson, my late father, mother, ix x Acknowledgments and sister, Anthony, Dorothy, and Alice Lisio, as well as late Professors David M. Pletcher and Irvin G. Wyllie. For their continuing support, I thank my sister Lila and her husband Dick Walker, my brother Dr. Arnold Lisio and his wife Dr. Anne Moore and their families, and Dave Brooks. A very special thanks to our daughter, Denise Lisio, for her computer editorial assistance. Throughout the fifty-six years of our marriage, my lovely and talented wife, Suzanne Swanson Lisio, has enthusiastically inspired and supported my teach- ing and scholarship, both financially and emotionally. As an English teacher herself, Suzie employed her keen intellect and insightful skills in materially improving the three books that she carefully scrutinized and edited for me. Ours has been a joyful partnership, one blessed by two wonderful children, Denise and Steve, who became scholars devoted to public service, and, along with their spouses Warren and Christine, our grandchildren Alessandra and Andrew, of whom we are immensely proud. Abbreviations AC Austen Chamberlain Papers, University of Birmingham Library, Birmingham, England ADD MSS Additional Manuscripts Collection, Lord Robert Cecil Papers, British Library, London, England ADM Admiralty Papers, Public Record Office, Kew, Surrey, England BED British Empire Delegation BEDM British Empire Delegation Minutes, CAB 27/350, Public Record Office BOR Sen. William E. Borah Papers, Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, DC BGMN/2 Unpublished Biography of William Bridgeman, Bridgeman Papers, Churchill College Archives, Cambridge, England BP Earl David Beatty Papers, National Maritime Museum Green- wich, England